Skills management has quietly become the cornerstone of strategic talent operations. Organizations that effectively identify, develop, and deploy talent based on skills outperform their competitors in nearly every metric that matters. Several innovative companies are transforming this space with AI-enabled approaches, each tackling different aspects of the skills challenge.
EDLIGO: The Quality Assessment Approach
While most skills platforms focus on identifying and cataloging capabilities, EDLIGO takes a fundamentally different approach. This German firm asks a more nuanced question: “Is this person actually good at what they do?”
As Lassaad Essafi, EDLIGO’s CEO explains: “Most platforms collect skills data about individuals. But there’s one question that other platforms struggle to answer… Is that engineer a good engineer? That is the question we want to answer.”
This focus on quality assessment helps organizations evaluate skill proficiency within specific contexts, creating visibility into workforce capabilities that goes beyond simple inventories of claimed skills.
The platform delivers a “zero-waste training” methodology that targets development initiatives precisely where skill gaps affect performance. Their succession planning tools automatically generate talent pipelines for key roles, helping leaders visualize readiness levels and potential risks. The platform’s distinctive strength lies in connecting skills analytics directly to business performance, providing metrics that demonstrate how skill gaps affect bottom-line results.
EDLIGO has earned recognition including three Gold Excellence Awards from Brandon Hall Group™ and ranks as the third most innovative small-medium enterprise in Germany. Their client base ranges from mid-sized organizations with 600 employees to global enterprises with 60,000+ staff across consulting, professional services, healthcare, engineering, and financial services sectors.
The Broader Skills Technology Ecosystem
The skills management landscape features several established players, each approaching talent challenges from distinctly different angles. While EDLIGO focuses on quality assessment, these alternative solutions offer different perspectives:
Eightfold AI: Potential-Focused Intelligence
Eightfold AI leverages deep talent intelligence to create comprehensive skill profiles from minimal data. Their platform specializes in identifying both current capabilities and future potential.
What sets Eightfold apart is their emphasis on skill adjacencies and development trajectories. The platform excels at identifying candidates who might not perfectly match requirements today but demonstrate high potential to grow into roles. This approach naturally supports diversity initiatives by expanding talent pools beyond traditional credential requirements.
Phenom: Experience-Driven Development
Phenom takes an experience-centered approach with their Talent Experience Management platform. By connecting candidates, employees, recruiters, and managers in a unified ecosystem, they prioritize engagement alongside capability development.
The platform’s strength lies in creating personalized talent journeys that guide employees through development opportunities. Phenom’s AI-driven matching capabilities focus on creating meaningful connections between people and possibilities, enhancing the employee experience throughout their career journey.
Hitch (Workday): Opportunity Marketplaces
After pioneering internal talent marketplace solutions, Hitch was acquired by Workday to enhance their skills infrastructure. The platform excels at connecting employees with projects, gigs, mentorships and roles based on skills and interests.
This deployment-focused approach directly addresses talent mobility challenges within organizations. Hitch helps companies maximize returns on existing skill investments while providing employees with clear growth pathways beyond traditional career ladders.
Degreed: Learning-Centered Development
Learning sits at the center of Degreed’s approach to skills management. Their platform aggregates content from multiple sources and maps it to skills, creating personalized learning pathways that adapt to individual needs.
Degreed stands out for its breadth of development resources. Their skill measurement methodology helps organizations quantify capabilities across the workforce, supporting the transition to skills-based talent practices while ensuring abundant development options for employees at every level.
ServiceNow: Workflow Integration
Moving beyond its IT service management roots, ServiceNow now offers sophisticated employee experience capabilities. Their Employee Growth and Development module brings workflow automation to talent processes, creating seamless experiences.
The platform’s distinctive strength comes from integrating talent processes with broader enterprise workflows. This cross-functional approach resonates with research highlighting the critical importance of connected systems that support employees throughout their professional journey.
Strategic Implications
Each of these platforms brings unique strengths to skills management. For talent leaders evaluating options, the key questions revolve around organizational priorities:
- Do you need deeper insight into the quality of existing skills? (EDLIGO)
- Is identifying potential and supporting diverse talent pools the priority? (Eightfold)
- Does your organization need better talent experiences across the lifecycle? (Phenom)
- Would internal talent mobility solve immediate deployment challenges? (Hitch/Workday)
- Is learning content integration and development your primary focus? (Degreed)
- Do you need talent processes that integrate with enterprise workflows? (ServiceNow)
These represent fundamentally different approaches to the skills challenge. While some organizations might choose to implement multiple solutions for different aspects of talent management, most companies benefit from selecting the platform that best aligns with their specific workforce strategy and primary business challenges.
For organizations serious about strategic workforce development rather than simply tracking skills, selecting the right approach means understanding your specific needs. The skills-based economy rewards organizations that not only identify capabilities but deploy them effectively to drive business results. The right platform should connect directly to your most pressing talent challenges and provide measurable impact on organizational performance.
